NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Zeppelin sextants and altitude corrections
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2025 Oct 29, 15:13 +0000
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2025 Oct 29, 15:13 +0000
As you can check when flying an airplane, the horizon is rarely visible from high altitude, even when it is not covered by clouds. The reason is a haze. So it is unlikely that an ordinary marine sextant can be useful in a Zepellin, unless the observation is
made on low altitude. Can you give a link to the documentary you have seen? Are you sure that:
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This is indeed a documentary, and
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That the sextant was not equipped with some artificial horizon attachment.
I never flied a Zepellin, but I suppose that the cabin and motors are separated, and perhaps there is no vibration
In the cabin. IN this case, I suppose a classic artificial horizon (a through with liquid, separate from the sextant) can be used.
Alex.
